Posts Tagged “Delmarva Peninsula”
The Eastern Shore, also referred to as Delmarva, encompasses several counties in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. It is separated from the mainland to the west by the Chesapeake Bay, and washed by the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean on the east.
Eastern Shore produce shipments provides retailers and foodservice companies, particularly along the Eastern Seaboard, with a steady supply potatoes, vegetables and other fresh fruits and vegetables from spring to fall. This year, loadings started in early June and will continue through September.
At Dublin Farms of Horntown, VA, fresh potato shipments are just getting underway, with volume expected to be similar to the 2022 season.
Virginia potatoes provide a niche in filling the gap after Florida’s fresh crop potatoes are dug in the spring and before the more northern production areas start producing in late summer early fall. Dublin will be shipping fresh potatoes to customers stretching from Florida to Canada until late in the summer.
Cambridge Farms is headquarted in South Easton, MA, but has long partnered with potato growers from the Southeast to the Northeast, including along the Eastern Shore. Good volume is expected from North Carolina and Virginia.
Cambridge Farms started Virginia potato shipments in mid-June with, and reds, white and yellows.
Papen Farms in Dover, DE, produces sweet corn, green beans and cabbage. The company is expecting those three crops to produce on a fairly normal schedule this season, with loadings from early June through its fall crop of green beans. Sweet corn is the company’s top volume commodity and it is on schedule for its post-Fourth of July harvest, which will last about two months.
Very light shipments of Eastern Shore vegetables get underway this week, with loadings in full swing expected by early July. The Eastern Shore is an area including parts of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
Virginia farming operation usually produce about 3,000 to 4,000 acres of red, yellow and russet potatoes, although there has been an eight to 10 percent decrease this year.
The majority of Virginia spuds are shipped to the eastern half of the country. When northern areas are not producing, much of the crop is trucked to those regions. When the Southern states stopshipping, loads are redirected to the South.
There has been a significant acreage in tomatoes, potatoes and green beans, which are the big three items on the Eastern Shore. The largest green bean operation is at Cheriton, VA. There are two major tomato operations on the Eastern Shore, that ship round, roma, grape, cherry and heirloom tomatoes, which will continue from late June through September.
Of the Eastern Shore potatoes that are shipped, about 60 percent go to tablestock and the remainder goes to chip processing. Potato loadings occur from late June through the first week of August. Harvest started last week.
The Eastern Shore region is part of the Delmarva Peninsula and is separated from the rest of Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay.